"Finality": 9/11 victim's remains identified 17 years later

NEW YORK -- The remains of a 26-year-old securities analyst who worked at the World Trade Center on 9/11 have been identified nearly 17 years after the attacks. The New York City medical examiners' office on Wednesday identified the victim as Scott Michael Johnson, an employee at the investment banking company Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

He's the 1,642nd victim to be positively identified in the terror attacks in which 2,753 people were killed by hijackers who crashed airplanes into the trade center's twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001.

The medical examiner says he was identified through improved DNA re-testing of remains originally recovered in 2001. It's the first new identification made since last August.

"In 2001, we made a commitment to the families of victims that we would do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to identify their loved ones," Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson said in a statement. "This identification is the result of the tireless dedication of our staff to this ongoing mission."

Ann and Tom Johnson told the New York Times that they cried when they heard the news about their son's remains.

"You get pulled right back into it and it also means there's a finality. Somehow I always thought he would just walk up and say, 'Here I am. I had amnesia,'" Ann Johnson told the newspaper.

So far, about 40 percent of those who died have yet to have any remains identified.